Gold Star mother puts in the kindest words

Long before the names of the fallen were carved in granite on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., Marie Wendling created a shrine to them with pen and paper.

Marie Wendling wrote condolence letters to families who had lost loved ones in Vietnam. She made lists of those who were killed and wrote letters and included a poem that she'd written.

Marie "Ria" Becker's brother, Robert, died at the end of World War II in a typhoon. He inspired Ria's mother, Marie Wendling, to make lists of people killed in Vietnam and write letters of condolence to their families.

Marie Wendling wrote condolence letters to families who had lost loved ones in Vietnam.

Marie "Ria" Becker found letters and lists of people killed in action during the Vietnam War that her mother, Marie Wendling, had written. Her mother took it upon herself to write condolence letters to families of these men.